Jeremy Corbyn allies plan to approve mandatory reselection by end of year in move that could ‘purge’ dozens of Labour moderates

Jeremy Corbyn’s allies are planning to end the parliamentary careers of dozens of critical Labour MPs by approving plans for mandatory reselection by the end of the year.

The Telegraph understands his supporters will use their increased majority on the party’s ruling body to clarify rules about which MPs can stand for election after the 2018 boundary review.

Rhea Wolfon, elected to the Labour’s National Executive Committee [NEC] this week, hinted at the move by saying the party must have a “conversation” about “mandatory reselection”.

However Andy Burnham, Labour’s new mayoral candidate for Greater Manchester, said it would “pull the rug from under our MPs” and fuel a “climate of distrust”.

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It emerged as Mr Corbyn accused his deputy Tom Watson of “peddling baseless conspiracy theories” and trying to rig the leadership election against him as relations between the pair feel to a new low.

The Labour leader’s campaign team issued a statement saying Mr Watson was supporting a “Project Fear” plot against him and “patronising” party members with talk of left-wing infiltration.

The heated response came after Mr Watson had used a Guardian interview to accuse “Trotsky entryists” of joining the party and “twisting young arms” to keep Mr Corbyn in power.

On re-selection, moderates believe sitting Labour MPs who inherit a constituency similar to their existing one after the boundary shake-up should automatically be allowed to fight for the seat.

Jeremy Corbyn, left, and Labour leadership contender Owen Smith

However Mr Corbyn said recently there should be a “full selection process in every constituency” after the review – meaning every Labour MP would need to be chosen to stand again.

Critics of Mr Corbyn would therefore have to be reselected as Labour candidates by local parties that have swelled with left-wing supporters in the last year.

Labour MPs fear it would lead to dozens of leading moderates being “purged” and replaced with Corbyn supporters in a generational shift in the make-up of the parliamentary party.

The dispute over the rules would ultimately be decided by the NEC – which this week saw six of the 33 places up for election filled with Corbyn backers in a clean sweep for the left-wing ticket.

Two senior sources have told The Telegraph that the ruling body – which is believed to be split 18-15 in Mr Corbyn’s favour – should vote on re-election rules by the end of the year.

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“At the end of the day MPs will have to do what the Labour Party instructs them to do,” a Corbyn-supporting NEC member said about reselection.

“I don’t think you can have people making political choices about who should be allowed to run and who shouldn’t be. It should be a fair, democratic and transparent process.

The source added: “It’s only reasonable that everybody has a chance to win a seat. Clearly there are going to be some people left behind.”

A second senior source said it was likely a vote would be held before the end of the year and said Mr Corbyn now had “control of the system” after the latest NEC election.

In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Watson criticised the election reforms that had let Mr Corbyn win the leadership and revealed they now only speak via text messages.

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Mr Watson also warned against entryism, saying: “There are some old hands twisting young arms in this process, and I’m under no illusions about what’s going on.

“They are caucusing and factionalising and putting pressure where they can, and that’s how Trotsky entryists operate. Sooner or later, that always end up in disaster. It always ends up destroying the institutions that are vulnerable, unless you deal with it.”

Within two hours of the interview being published, Mr Corbyn’s leadership team issued a heated statement denouncing Mr Watson as a conspiracy theorist.

“This is a disappointing remark by Tom Watson, who seems to be sadly using the Owen Smith campaign's 'Project Fear' approach to this election,” the statement said.

"Rather than patronising members and peddling baseless conspiracy theories about 'Trotsky entryists', he should be working with Jeremy to unite our party so that we can get back to campaigning to dislodge this Tory government, and help elect a Labour government in its place."

There was also a boost for Mr Smith, the former Labour frontbencher running for the leadership, as ex-leader Ed Miliband publicly backed his candidacy.

He said: “For his vision, for his principles and for his ability to lead, my choice in this leadership election is Owen Smith. I hope he’ll be your choice too.”

Mr Watson later hit back: "John McDonnell has consistently made it clear that everyone in our party must be free to express their opinion and be heard respectfully without fear of being shouted down, which is why I simply don't believe he approved these intemperate words from Jeremy's campaign. "